President Trump declared last week that in seeking an historic buildup in the U.S. military and missile defense, money is no object to him. “I want a balanced budget eventually,” he told Sean Hannity of Fox News. “But I want to have a strong military. To me, that’s much more important than anything.”
Trump took a first major step towards making good on his campaign pledge to boost defense spending with the issuance last Friday of an executive order. In it, the Republican commander-in-chief instructed newly installed Defense Secretary James Mattis to conduct a 30-day “readiness review” to examine needs in the ongoing war against ISIS in Syria and Iraq as well as training, equipment maintenance, modernization, and infrastructure, as The Washington Post reported.
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More broadly, Trump has asked Mattis for a comprehensive plan within two months to improve overall readiness in the armed services by fiscal 2019, including updating the nuclear arsenal and strengthening defenses against the possibility of a nuclear missile attack by North Korea, Iran or some other adversaries.
Trump complained during the 2016 presidential campaign that former President Barack Obama had dangerously depleted the armed services – especially the Navy – as he gradually disengaged the U.S. from combat in Afghanistan and Iraq. Last week Trump promised a “great rebuilding” of the armed forces – in some cases returning to levels not seen since the Reagan administration of the 1980s -- to ensure that the sacrifices of the military “are supported by the actions of our government.”
Last September, Trump’s campaign outlined a highly ambitious military buildup plan that he is now attempting to push through Congress. It includes raising the number of active Army troops from 475,000 to 540,000, boosting the number of Marine battalions from 24 to 36, expanding the naval fleet from a planned 280 to 350 and increasing the number of Air Force fighter aircraft by 100 to at least 1,200.
The president also called for modernizing the nation’s missile defense system and cybersecurity, in the wake of North Korea’s aggressive efforts to develop a long-range nuclear-tipped missile that could reach the West Coast of the United States and beyond.
Trump at the time promised to find some savings in other parts of the budget to help pay for his proposed military buildup, but it is far more likely that much of the new spending will simply be added to the debt. In order to do that, however, Congress will have to lift the discretionary spending caps on defense that was imposed under the Budget Control Act of 2011.